The Cooperative operates on a not-for-profit basis with all margins going to you – our owners. Patronage capital is your investment in the Cooperative’s infrastructure, and it is retired (paid out) on a rotation of approximately 20 years.

The system of patronage capital started with the Cooperative in 1938. Investor-owned utilities were only interested in serving electricity to those areas with a relatively high number of customers. The rural residents surrounding Ashton, Idaho started an electric cooperative to bring electricity to their homes and farms. The first members of our Cooperative contributed a significant amount of money to start the construction of a distribution system. In time, they were paid back for their investment. That tradition continues today.

Your patronage capital is invested in building new or maintaining existing infrastructure, including generation facilities, poles, wire, transformers, and substations. Your allocated patronage capital also helps the co-op get loans at a lower interest rate, saving all members a lot of money on large capital projects. When you ask for a loan from the bank to purchase a home or business, they require that you have equity. Fall River must also have equity and we do this by keeping allocated patronage capital on hand for approximately 20 years. The alternative to the patronage capital system is higher electric retail rates in order to keep a large enough reserve of funds for capital investments and improvements.

Your allocated patronage capital becomes working capital, which helps the Co-op invest in its infrastructure to continue providing you with safe and reliable service. Find out more about what happens to your patronage capital – from allocation to retirement – by viewing this graphic.

A 20 year retirement rotation helps the Cooperative achieve its ideal equity level, saving you and other members a lot of money in the long term. Shortening the retirement period would require increasing retail rates to achieve the equity needed by the Cooperative. The retirement rotation for patronage capital is set by board policy.

Your patronage capital remains in your name until it is retired and paid out. To see if you have an undeliverable patronage capital check, view this list undeliverable patronage capital. If you have not kept us informed of any change of address since leaving our service area, you may want to call Member Services at 1.800.632.5726 Monday-Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. Mountain Time to update your address.

Eventually, if we cannot deliver your retired patronage capital, we will use it to fund higher education scholarships for members and their children.

You can also choose to donate your future patronage capital refunds to the scholarship fund or to Fall River Helping Hands program which provides assistance to financially struggling members.

Your patronage capital would transfer to your estate. If the patronage capital was allocated to a joint account, and one spouse dies, we continue to pay out patronage capital to the surviving member. If both members pass away, we retire the patronage capital and pay it to the second estate. You can download instructions on how to apply here Patronage Capital Redemption Instructions and the actual application is here Patronage Capital Redemption Form.

We mail a summary of your earnings each April or you can also contact our office to find out more.

The amount you receive depends upon the amount of electricity you purchased from the Cooperative and the year in which it was purchased. We do not mail checks of less than $5, but roll this amount over to the next year’s pay-out of retired patronage capital.

Not necessarily. Fall River’s Board of Directors analyzes the financial health of the Cooperative annually and retires patronage capital when it is in the best interest of the membership. Patronage capital is retired on a “first in, first out” basis, and on a rotation of approximately 20 years.

If a patronage capital retirement is approved, you will receive a check at the end of the year.

The Cooperative sometimes retires patronage capital early when a member is 75 years of age or older, or upon the death of a member. Please note that patronage capital is paid out at a discounted rate when it is retired early.The Board of Directors also sets a yearly limit for the early retirement of patronage capital. If every member asked for and received all their member equity today, the Cooperative would be unable to function.